Fontaine Florida

[mainmanwalkin]

A few months back I attempted to get to the site of Fontaine. The ghosttowns description was pretty brief and stated it was unknown if anything remains.

"Known as the "Fontaine Grant", it does not show on any maps as far back as 1972. The land grant came from the Wisconsin-Florida Fruitland Corporation. Its in a swampy area, near a bend in the abandoned "Jacksonville, Key West and Tampa Railroad". This portion of the railroad was known as the "Enterprise Branch". The area is roughly in a straitline southwest from the intersection of I-95 and SR 5A. In a wildlife refuge.

It's inside the Brevard County Game Refuge, but unfortunately the road is gated and locked. There was a smaller dirt path but that was also blocked off.

As far as I could tell, this was the only paved road and I dont think there are any other official entrances. But there may yet be another way in and over to the Fontaine site and who knows what's left out there



the road to Fontaine:

[geraldm]

You probably don't need to try and wander through the swamp finding remains. From contacting a local historian who said it was probably a land speculator trying to sucker people in and looking at old aerial photos, that seems to be correct. Nothing appears disturbed in the area where the town should be in a 1934 aerial photo ( http://ufdcweb1.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?...88390343507682 )( Main Page is here: http://ufdcweb1.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/

I submitted this ghost town YEARS ago because it happened to appear in Plat Book 1, Page 1 of the Brevard County Property Appraiser's website http://www.brevardpropertyappraiser....1/00010001.pdf ). The date on the plat is March 25, 1891. The area appears to have been replatted on February 18, 1915: ( http://www.brevardpropertyappraiser....2/00020043.pdf ). So, the lots originally shown are not valid. Here is an lot in the middle of all that: ( http://www.brevardpropertyappraiser....10&tid=2005158 )

There is still no way to get there from here!

The Fontaine Ghost Town should probably be removed from the database.

[mainmanwalkin]

Thanks alot for the update Gerald. I figured some of the buildings on the way to the site might be related, and there could be foundations or other evidence that isn't visible on Google Earth. Another way that looked possible to get in was from the south with a truck on some maybe-questionable dirt roads, if they didn't lead to a fence first. But now I dont have to bother with that. There are plenty of other Florida ghost towns to find and explore instead!

[Tsarevna]

Sorry I'm lost in the conversation.

Should Fontaine be removed from the list because it's not a real ghost town? Or there aren't remains left? Or are they just too hard to get to?

[Darin]

If it's a ghost of it's former self, I don't think it should be removed. The fact that it's on private property is the same as some of the other towns listed that are hard to get to like ones here in the Tacoma water shed...shouldn't be removed. If there are no remains left doesn't mean that it wasn't there...it just means that it's a ghost town like Ruby City, Washington. I can't think of a single reason to have it removed as a ghost town since there is history of a town at that location...but that is JMHO!

[chibifozz]

I just moved to Florida, Brevard County to be specific, and am a little confused as to where Fontaine used to be. Mainmanwalkin refered to Fontaine-Grant and Grant is in the southern most part of Brevard near Palm Bay. But the wildlife refuge is up in Mims. Where should I be looking for Fontaine if I try to go looking for it? Also, in regards to the old plot maps from the late 1800's, are those just designated plots for sale or were there actual structures there, or is it unknown as to which one of those two it is.

[JMB-78]

Their is no ghosttown of Fontaine : never was ; A lot of inaccurate information being passed around in reference to this locality. The grant that your in reference to dates back to the Spaniards. The Spanish encouraged settlement by making land grants around the turn of 1784-85. The Pouchard , Fontaine , Garvin , Acosta & Segui were the original grants of this region just due north of Mims and within the Scottsmoor vicinity. The region you all refer to as Fontaine's Grant comprived of the region along Dixie Way & included Sunset Avenue , Coral Avenue & Dunn Road. It serves as a district of Scottsmoor today and can be found on most maps , just look closely at Scottsmoor.

The area that your in reference too that ran along the E-branch railroad network was simply just a plat (division) , that failed to launch and never produced. It was suppose to have been a division of Scottsmoor but nothing ever became of it. Their at one time , Scottsmoor was a thriving community but slowly started to die off by the turn of the 1930's. The ruins of the old Scottsmoor Public School can still be found in the woods at Parrish Park , sadly all the original structures and anything of a historical significance has long since been lost and nothing remains. I've attached a map of the platted area that everyone is in reference too that never took off. Their is no way to access that land , it's completely surrounded by drainage c****s and drain-flows that proceed further to the north. The reason that it's all blocked off is because it's part of the Brevard County Wildlife Refuge and they don't want anyone snooping around out there.

If this division had in fact ever saw the light of day it would have had ideal access and linkage to the E-Branch railroad that ran up flush against it. It's closest neighbors would have been Maytown , Aurantia & Creighton.

On the map , to the north would have been Maytown ( no longer exists ) , it was the junction for both the E-Branch & K-Branch railroad networks. Aurantia was founed by the Bliss Corporation in 1882 for citrus cultivation and then a community blossomed thereafter. After the demise of the E-branch railroad , Aurantia faced a crippling demise. The final blow was dealt when I-95 split the community in half and it lost it's identity. Farther to the north of Scottsmoor would have been Creighton which was established around the turn of 1911 by E.R. Creighton who operated a mill & lumber company at this location. Creighton was nessled between Maytown & Volco Roads. At one time their was a public road that led from the extinct community of Cow Creek to Volco Road but no trace of it remains today. Anyhow the red boxed area would have been the plat and the blue line would have been the path of the E-branch Railroad.

I'd be very careful of the area on Deering Parkway around I-95 , the Law Enforcement presence is getting pretty heavy due to all the illegal groups of people mudding , 4-wheelin' and with their dirt bikes and all the other trespassers on this property in the sandier area of the photo and where it appears some mud-holes and trails proceed north. Their are now busting all trespassers who come out here. Furthermore do not proceed past Jabez Rd. It's privately owned property. Latest rumours i'm hearing about this area is that Deering Parkway is slated for possible future development.